Grocery Delivery: What Shoppers Need To Know Before They Buy

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Grocery stores are betting on shoppers to cross off their list without ever leaving their homes, by promising fast and easy delivery. Three of the biggest delivery services include Amazon Prime Now, Target's Shipt, and Instacart Express.

In an effort to make grilled cheese and tomato soup, WCCO ordered the same items from each of the three services: bread, butter, cheese, a can of whole tomatoes, an onion, bacon, an avocado and bananas as fresh produce.

Prime was the most expensive, with a $37.74 price tag. That includes $9.99 for delivery and $5 for tip.

Instacart cost $29.09, which includes a $7.99 delivery and an automatically suggested $2 tip. Had the tip matched Prime, it would've cost $32.09.

Shipt was the cheapest by a significant amount-- $26.43 including a $7 delivery fee and $5 tip.

Three factors could adjust those prices: A flexible delivery window, meeting the $35 minimum for free shipping, and annual fees.

Both Shipt and Instacart charge $99 per year for their services. Prime Now is included with an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $119 per year.

All three orders arrived on time and they were all accurate. Each of the three had designated spots for special instructions, appropriate for specifying qualities in produce or meat.

WCCO requested a ripe avocado, but did not specify ripeness for the bananas. Results varied, although it appeared all three shoppers tried picking ripe avocados.

Instacart and Prime both let users track their drivers in real time via the app, and they all communicate via text throughout the ordering and delivery process. Shoppers will also reach out if they have questions, but none of the three did so in WCCO's test.

All three experiments were done under the services' "free trial" period. Afterwards, WCCO's Christiane Cordero cancelled two of the services: Instacart and Shipt, since she's already a Prime member. Instacart allows users to cancel directly from their phones, while Shipt requires a phone call. On that call, Shipt offered to extend the free trial from two weeks to two months.